1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shifter for a vehicle such as an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there has been widely known a manual transmission shifter for a vehicle, such as a type disclosed, for example, JP-U 62-67831 A (hereinafter referred to as “Patent Document 1”).
The Patent Document 1 discloses a mechanism for returning a shift lever manually operated and moved in a selecting direction (a vehicle width direction, a Z-W direction in FIGS. 2 and 3), to its original position by means of a selecting return spring. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 4A, the selecting return spring 100 comprises two locking pieces 100a, 100b formed in spaced-apart relation to each other. A select arm 101 provided on the shift lever, and a spring stopper portion 102 integrally formed from a shifter body (holding plate) by bending, are disposed between the locking pieces 100a, 100b, while being brought into contact with and locked to the respective locking pieces 100a, 100b. Then, for example, when the shift lever located in a neutral position is moved in the selecting direction, the select arm 101 interlockingly with the movement, so that one of the locking pieces 100a of the selecting return spring 100 is held in a contact state with respect to the spring stopper portion 102, and the other locking piece 100b is displaced together with the select arm 101 as indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 4A, while producing a biasing force against the select arm 101, whereby the shift lever can be returned to the original position by the biasing force.
The mechanism disclosed in the Patent Document 1 has to be fabricated such that each of a diameter of the select arm 101 and a width of the spring stopper portion 102 becomes equal to a distance between the locking pieces 100a, 100b of the selecting return spring 100 so as to allow each of the select arm 101 and the spring stopper portion 102 to come into contact with the selecting return spring 100. If not, wobbling of the shift lever will occur. For example, in the case where the width of the spring stopper portion 102 is less than the distance between the locking pieces 100a, 100b, a gap 103 is formed between each of the locking pieces 100a, 100b and the spring stopper portion 102, as illustrated in FIG. 4B. Further, in the case where the diameter of the select arm 101 is less than the distance between the locking pieces 100a, 100b, a gap is formed between each of the locking pieces 100a, 100b and the select arm 101, although not illustrated. If such a gap is formed, the shift lever will wobble with amplitude corresponding to the gap 103, which causes deterioration in operational feeling of an operator or driver. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately fabricate the mechanism with tighter dimensional accuracy in each of the width (diameter) of the select arm 101, the width of the spring stopper portion 102 and the distance between the locking pieces 100a, 100b of the selecting return spring 100, which leads to a higher level of difficulty in fabrication and an increase in time required for fabrication. Moreover, even if each of the components is accurately fabricated, a gap similar to the gap 103 will be formed due to fabrication tolerances of the components such as the select arm 101, the spring stopper portion 102 and the selecting return spring 100.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle shifter which is free from a risk of wobbling of a shift lever in a neutral position.